Summer Thoughts

Well, yesterday got to almost 50 degrees here in northern Michigan -- it's unusual but not unheard of in December. But.... last night from about 4:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. the temperature plummeted over 30 degrees -- we are now in the teens!! Since it rained all day yesterday, the roads have become a solid sheet of ice, in addition, we've begun the famouse "lake effect snow" and the winds have howled all day at 20 - 30 miles per hour. All in all, a dismal, grey day. But... no school, a chance to allow my body to heal from the cold it decided I should get right now (I hear several of you saying "well, duh, when you're that busy and don't take care of yourself, what do you expect), and a chance to get a couple of projects done. Nope, no art, but I'm thinking of walking over to the studio and do a little -- the problem is, I have to go outside for about 12 steps. Maybe I will, or maybe I'll get another cup of hot tea, and grab a good book.

So - in honor of today's blustery weather, here are pictures from this summer. Summer Love!

Blue Lake's third session band conductors - Jane Church, Mike, myself, Dennis Zeisler. We sure have fun while working hard! Hot, hot days of summer!

flowers from the garden -- there were so many good garden moments this summer!

these were wonderful - the flowers were almost a straw flower like feel -- very unusual.

ASBDA Convention in Milwaukee started the summer - some great fun & this is a shot of the director's reading band -- and we were all decked out in our convention shirts! This is a picture of Jeff, from Warren, Michigan (Detroit area) who is a good friend to both Mike & I -- he has been National President of ASBDA, and I know I'll be asking him lots of questions in the next two years! (ASBDA is American School Band Directors Association - I was elected National President-Elect at this convention)

Nothing else spells summer to me like peonies, and I'll end today's post with a peony from my garden this summer. They always go into their beautiful, fragrant show just as school is ending for the year. I have four colors in my yard, this wonderful medium purple, a dark red, a light pink, and pure white. When I see peonies, I think summer.

Well, a little art making, perhaps, but at the very least, a little hot tea & dreams of summer!

November slipped by

November slipped by and I didn't blog once. Sorry to my readers, but it seemed like life took over.
Just a little update and some November thankfulness, and I promise (promise, promise) to post more in about a week when this very busy week is over.
In November 2008, I -
1. Went to MSBOA (in Mount Pleasant) and MMC (in Okemos) meetings
2. Published my first ASBDA Newsletter
3. Turned 50 (okay, I'm admitting it)
4. Had a surprise birthday party - see above - and wow, was I surprised! Thanks Joyce, Kathy & friends - you guys really got me!
5. Went to Chicago over Thanksgiving
6. Hosted All State Auditions
7. Drove the convertible with the top down
8. Shoveled snow (I've been waiting to write these last two - both in the same month !!)
7. went to work, taught lessons, did all the usual stuff
Well, no wonder I'm tired. I'm also trying to get ready for this weekend's Sleighbell weekend. I didn't have enough to do, so the band's Holiday Concert is this Thursday, to boot!!
Looks like I'm going to have a few journals, some paintings, some cards and a bunch of Polaroid transfers in my booth at the craft show. I'll also have some jewelery (cool beaded stuff) from Kendra. I've got to finish a journal for Laura, too, because I've owed her one for several months! (sorry, Laura, but it's on it's way!) Should be a nice booth, and I'm happy to be able to share my craft stuff with others -- I think sometimes I look at it more as a "show" than a "sale." I know I did my first time out -- people were asking if they could buy some of my things that I had just brought to "show." That surprised me. I guess there's always something to learn, isn't there? Well, I promise, promise, more later -- with pictures!

ATC's at school

I was talking with my friend Mary, who works down the hall at the middle school, a while back when I was headed off to Valley Ridge to take my class with Katie Kendrick. She is the art teacher for the middle school and the Catholic High School in our town. We got talking about many things "art" and then she said something about wanting to show her kids Artist's Trading Cards. I, of course, said, "would you like to see some ATC's that I made?"

Okay, so that sparked my post a while back about ATC's and I showed you some that I had made about 2 years ago in a wonderful class at Art Unraveled. I took them in to her, and she took them to her class to show them. Look what she brought me back!! They made a book to house my ATC's for me!! And even included an ATC made out of Duct Tape for me -- HOW COOL IS THAT>!!?!?!

Here's the book -- Japanese stab binding and all. Mary says there was only a small amount of whining -- "I have to go back through the same hole AGAIN?" LOL!!

This is the cool ATC they made for me out of duct tape -- way cool!! It's in the front of the book.

Now, here's an interesting spot. If you look at my earlier post, you'll see an ATC that's blue, and is of a man smoking a cigarette. Mary told me that one of her high school students wanted that ATC, and asked her to ask me if he could have it. She said she would, but that she was sure that I wouldn't want him to have it. Well, she was telling me about it, while I was oohing and ahhing over the book they made me. (Side note - I'm pretty sure I should never play poker -- see why in a line or two...) Well, I began to snicker a little, and tried to not let on, but alas, see sidenote above. Mary snatched the book from my hands, and said "that little rat" (I paraphrased!) because he had taken the ATC out of the book. I just laughed out loud and told her I couldn't possibly be more flattered -- a teenager wanted to steal MY art! Wow, I've really made it!!! Here's the place where the ATC was located in the book....

the lonely spot where there once was a blue ATC with a man smoking a cigarette. I have to admit that I really did like that ATC, but that's not the point of an ATC -- it's about trading with other artists. Not necessarily the way it's usually done, but how cool is it that one of them wanted my work. I'm just so flattered.

I think I will forever look at that picture on this blog and smile.... A teenager liked my work! HA!

Happy Wednesday!

Fall Colors

Last weekend, the colors in the trees here in northern Michigan were spectacular. What a beautiful show! It was warm enough that we went for a drive in the convertible with the top down & just soaked in the color of the trees & the beauty around us.

That, plus a conversation with friend Kendra, got me thinking about a book I'd made a while ago. (Okay, several years ago.) At that time, I had wanted to try my hand at working with wire mesh, and I had just taken a papermaking class, where we embedded a leaf in one of the sheets we had made. I thought mine had come out quite nicely, so wanted to use it in the book. The book cover that I had chosen to use was in a deep red color, and with the copper color of the wire mesh, the book became a fall type book. Seems like I forget about it until each fall rolls around. I thought I'd share it with you, and also so Kendra can take a look at the page with the leaf.

Today is Parent/Teacher conferences -- on a Friday afternoon and evening. I'm not expecting a great turnout, but I'll take things to do, so that if I'm sitting alone, I can read something inspiring. I think I'm taking Kelly Rae Robert's latest book with me -- it looks really, really yummy!!

Happy weekend to all!

Katie

Katie, the neighbor kittie, has moved -- her owners (our next door neighbor) are moving to Virginia, and decided to adopt their cats out to someone who lives near here, but in the country. I already miss Katie. She was an outdoor kittie, made our cats VERY jealous (you'd see them scowling out the window at Mike or I any time we even noticed Katie, let alone when we'd talk to her or *gasp* pet her), usually had a few knots in her fur, and was a little dirty, but gosh she was nice. She just really enjoyed when Mike or I would stop and talk to her, pet her or just sit with her on the stoop.

Bye, Katie - I'll miss you.

new art

I've been working on Polaroid transfers and emulsion lifts over the last few days in my spare (LOL) time. It really is a great medium to work in, and I'm saddened to think that Polaroid is stopping production on it's instant film. Just means I'm going to go into hoarde mode.

So, recently I went looking for an old electric frying pan to use in working with Polaroids. No such luck at the local thrift shops. But I did find an old fondue pot for $3.00. It was a silverstone lined one, and the lining was looking rather scratched up, so I thought, "what better use for this fondue pot than to make beautiful art, now that it wouldn't probably be good for fondue." Home it went with me, and now look at what I have been doing! These are so much fun. I remember when I took the classes on Polaroid lifts and image transfers from Terry Berg (great teacher, by the way!) she said "you'll get hooked -- these are addicting!" Oh, she was correct! Here's a sample of what I've done recently.

I've also framed some others that I had done -- posted about them earlier. See what they look like! I'm happy with how they look in their frames.

I'm also pleased to present the picture of my new desk/hutch. You can see where I'm currently showing off my Polaroids -- right on top! I think this will prove to be very handy, and it's in a great location in the studio. I've already been using it a lot, and enjoying every minute!

It's a bright sunny fall day in northern Michigan. The temps are warmer than usual, and everyone's out doing things in their yards or strolling downtown. And smiling. There's lots of smiling -- a sunny, warm fall Saturday. It's the best! I hope it's great where you are! Get out and enjoy -- and smile!

Happy Saturday!

The harvest continues

Although I think that harvesting the ornamental corn really signals the end of the season, look at the wonderful ornamental corn that Mike grew! Husking each piece was an adventure, as, like Forrest Gump said "you never know what you're going to get!" Aren't they beautiful?

I keep working on the studio (no, not the closets. What fun are they?) and made a lot of progress -- Mike helped me put together the desk part of my new desk & hutch. The desk & hutch are specificially for crafting, and have 1 inch and 2 inch deep drawers. I could also choose 12 x 12 paper racks, but since stamps, paint tubes, and doo dads dominate in my world, I like the drawers. I'll take a picture once it's done & all the stamps neatly tucked away.

I'm also excited about it, because it has two open spots where I plan on storing my journals & other pieces that I've done that inspire me. It's so much fun to look through my art & see what I've done -- it pushes me to do more! Anyone else feel that way?

Well, today I think I'll try to finish the desk, plus a piece that I've been working on for several weeks. In addition, I have some more Polaroid transfers to finish up.

Happy Sunday!

I stand corrected

It is now the Saturday morning following the Homecoming Parade & Football game in my fair small town. And, I will eat a small amount of humble pie for breakfast, although I don't mind at all. Yesterday, while being bone chillingly cold, was a bright sunshiny day!!! No Rain -- NO RAIN -- on Homecoming Day!!!

Oh Happy Day!

The girl's looked pretty, the boys handsome, and the band -- DRY!!!!

It's the simple things, now, isn't it?

I got an order today from knotsewshabby at etsy.com. If you have never shopped at etsy, I would urge you to do so -- it's a wonderful place to find handmade goods from loads of neat people. I could go on and on about etsy, but 'nuff said -- go there, look around, buy stuff!!

The item I received is going to be a gift for a crafty little girl of 4 -- it will be great for her to take her crayons (I'll put some brand new ones in here before I send it to her -- aren't brand new crayons just about the best? Do you remember the smell when you'd first open the box??) to church and keep busy, or just about any place she's going. Busy girls need a pad of paper to write down their 'notes' so I thought that this would be a good thing!!!

Well, it's a completely 'band-free-weekend' around our house -- neither of us have any work related things going on, so I suspect many things to show you all come Sunday night. I'll be locked away in my studio for at least a goood portion of this weekend.

About those closets a couple of weeks back - um - remember how I got sick that weekend? Well, the closets are still a fright. I was thinking maybe I'd start to tackle one this weekend. Um - well - yeah, right!! I'm going to go MAKE ART!! Happy weekend!

Fall colds, Polaroid transfers, and Friday night football!

This past week was a bright, sunshiny week here, with lots of opportunity for a high school marching band to go outside during class & get lots of good work done. Just in time for me to have my annual fall cold. So... all week, when I would take the kids outside, and I was barking (literally) directions over the loudspeaker system, I didn't really have a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather we were having. (sniff, sniff, feeling icky) But... we got a lot of good practice in, and the kids looked (and sounded) great on Friday night. Next week, homecoming. (Which in our case translates to "it will rain on Friday night.") I can't count the number of times we've been standing in the rain at homecoming. And it's hard to get really excited about the girls in their beautiful dresses & hairdos and the boys in their tuxedos when you're trying to play "Endless Love" over and over again in the rain. Sigh. Now, I just hope I'm fully over my cold before the rains set in. (And guess what the Weather Channel predicts for this week..... I could have told you back in July what the weather was going to do this week -- it's homecoming!!!)

I'm feeling better this weekend, and wanted to get after a project I had intended for last weekend when I ended up feeling like a cold was coming on (I was right!) -- Polaroid transfers. Got the bug again while I was in Arizona, and the bug has kept after me. I asked my co-worker to bring in some pictures of flowers she had done, so that I could try to do some image transfers. I am very pleased, and now want to find a used coffee pot at Goodwill or a garage sale and use the Polaroid picture portions to make emulsion transfers -- there are some great possibilities for those! I think Jalyn's photos look great done as image transfers, and I think they will look good with a little stretching and pulling that usually happens with the emulsion transfers. Hope you enjoy!!

ATC's

ATC's are so much fun, I don't know why I don't do more. Well, I want to post some here that I did quite a while ago (I'm ashamed to say how long - Kim, you'll recognize these!) because I like them quite a bit, and am hoping that I am inspired to do more.







Funny thing happened recently in regards to ATC's - the mother of one of my seniors (12th grader) is the middle school art teacher. Our classrooms are about 25 yards apart, and we are both at the middle school at about the same time each afternoon. She asked me about attending Art Unraveled this year - she said she had heard that I had attended 'an art retreat in August' and wondered about it. I shared some information about classes I had taken. She wanted to see my work. I brought one thing in, she said "I want to see more." I brought in something else, and then described the Katie Kendrick class I was taking last weekend. She asked to see it when I came back -- so I brought it in. We've talked a lot about art since then - seems she is really into collage right now. And then, she asked if I'd ever heard of Artists Trading Cards? Insert hearty laugh here.... I asked if she wanted to see some of mine? Well, of course, you know the answer -- she thought it would be cool for the kids to see mine, and to know that I did art. She wants to do ATC's with her middle school kids. Ta Dah!



Well, that got me thinking ATC's, and so I dug these out, and took pictures of them -- here's some of my fav's!



Now it's off to clean out my closet. Fun, hey?

More from Valley Ridge

Valley Ridge Art Studio is a wonderful place -- this was my second visit, and surely will not be my last. I had the Cardboard Visual Journal class with Katie Kendrick -- what a fun class!

I flew into Milwaukee, rented a car, and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Valley Ridge -- they always put out great signs to remind you of the way to get there -- the countryside is just beautiful with rolling hills -- on Saturday, you could see the mist rising from the hills off into the distance - it was just natural that so many of us in the class chose greens & goldens as our colors for the journals we were making -- it was just a beautiful sight!

Katie is a wonderful teacher - gives each student some time, making you feel special, but also letting you 'do your own thing' when you want to. She has a gentle spirit, which makes the art making just that much more fun -- that's us together, and me with my book! Take a look inside:

I enjoyed playing with the cardboard -- something I'd never thought of to do before. I also enjoyed all the wonderful techniques we learned to paint our pages. Although I am far from done with my book, I am pleased with it so far -- I look forward to adding more to each page, and recalling the fun weekend spent with new friends at a great retreat!